Review of God Was in the West, Too, at One Time

While nothing special in itself (and in spite of its portentous title), this one scores a few points for transposing Robert Louis Stevenson's classic pirate adventure "Treasure Island" to a Spaghetti Western landscape! Folco Lulli plays the Billy Bones figure – who sets the plot in motion; 'Long John Silver' is Gilbert Roland, sporting an iron hand instead of a wooden leg! Also involved are preacher Richard Harrison, while 'Jim Hawkins' is incarnated by a Mexican boy (who, naturally, befriends the roguish Roland).

Director Girolami (using the pseudonym Dario Silvestri), who dabbled in everything from comedy to action-oriented efforts, is the lesser-known father of cult film-maker Enzo G. Castellari (curiously enough, Roland co-starred in the latter's debut feature – ANY GUN CAN PLAY [1967] – which, incidentally, is also a Spaghetti Western). The film remains watchable, thanks also to a notable score from Carlo Savina; it does, however, include a couple of almost campy moments – one in which a badman is set on fire when a Mexican girl he has attempted to rape breaks a lantern over his head, but he takes care to repeatedly shoot her prior to expiring himself(!); another is when Roland's thin cigar is lit by a shot fired from the gun being handled by non-practitioner Harrison!